December 29,
2013 "Information
Clearing House -
Maybe the empire thought that we would not honor our word when,
during days of uncertainty in the past century, we affirmed that
even if the USSR were to disappear Cuba would continue
struggling. World War II broke out on September 1, 1939 when
Nazi-fascist troops invaded Poland and struck like a lightning
over the heroic people of the USSR, who contributed 27 million
lives to preserve mankind from that brutal massacre that ended
the lives of 50 million persons.

War, on
the other hand, is the only venture that the human race
throughout history has failed to avoid, leading Einstein to say
that he did not know how World War III would be like but most
certainly the fourth would be fought with sticks and stones.

Added up,
the means available to the two most powerful powers –United
States and Russia— amount to 20,000 (twenty thousand) nuclear
warheads. Mankind should know that three days before John F.
Kennedy assumed the presidency of his country on January 20,
1961, a US B-52 bomber, in a routine flight, carrying two atomic
bombs with a destructive capacity 260 times that of the bomb
dropped in Hiroshima, had an accident and the aircraft crashed.
For such cases sophisticated automatic equipment are in place to
prevent the bombs from exploding. The first bomb landed without
risks. In the case of the second, three of the four mechanisms
failed, and the fourth, in very critical conditions could barely
function. The bomb did not explode by mere chance.

There is
no present or past event I remember or have heard of that has
impacted world public opinion so much as the death of Nelson
Mandela, and not because of his wealth, but for his human
quality and the loftiness of his ideas and feelings. Throughout
history and barely one and a half century ago — before robots
and machines took over our modest tasks with a minimum energy
cost– none of the phenomena that today shake mankind and
inexorably rule each and every person –men and women, children
and elders, young and adult, farmers and factory workers, manual
workers or intellectuals– existed. The prevailing trend is to
move to the cities, where the creation of jobs, transportation,
and basic living conditions demand huge investments to the
detriment of food production and other more rational ways of
life.

Three
powers have landed in our planet’s Moon. The same day Nelson
Mandela, covered with his country’s flag, was buried in the
backyard of the humble house where he was born 95 years ago, a
sophisticated module from the Peoples Republic of China
descended upon a bright spot in our Moon. The coincidence of
both events was purely by chance.

Millions
of scientists are studying earth and outer-space matters and
radiations. Through them we now know that Titan, one of Saturn’s
rings, accumulated 40 times more oil than the existing amount in
our planet when oil extraction began 125 years ago and which
will last barely one more century at current consumption rates.
The fraternal feelings of profound brotherhood between the Cuban
people and Nelson Mandela’s homeland were born out of an event
that has never been mentioned and about which we have never said
a word during all these long years; Mandela, because he was an
apostle of peace and did not want to hurt anyone; Cuba, because
we have never done anything for the sake of glory and prestige.

Since the
very triumph of the Revolution in Cuba we extended our
solidarity to the Portuguese colonies in Africa. Liberation
movements in that continent had colonialism and imperialism on
the rack after World War II and the liberation of the Peoples
Republic of China –the most highly populated country in the
world— following the glorious triumph of the Russian Socialist
Revolution. Social revolutions were shaking the pillars of the
old world order. In 1960 the inhabitants of the planet amounted
to three million. Along with this, the power of big
transnational companies –almost all Americans– was growing and
the American currency, underpinned by US gold monopoly and its
intact industry so far removed from the battle fields, took
control of the world economy. Richard Nixon unilaterally
abolished the backing of US currency in gold and his country’s
companies took control over the main resources and raw materials
in the planet which they bought with paper bills.

Nothing I
have said till now is new. But why do they try to hide the fact
that the Apartheid regime –that brought so much suffering onto
Africa and arouse so much indignation in most nations throughout
the world– was the fruit of European colonial powers and was
turned into a nuclear power by the United States and Israel,
something Cuba, who supported Portuguese colonies in Africa
fighting for their independence openly condemned?

Our
people, handed over to the United States by Spain after 30 years
of heroic struggle, never reconciled with the slavery regime
imposed during almost 500 years. In 1975, racist troops
supported by light tanks equipped with 90-millimeter guns set
off from Namibia –then occupied by South Africa— and penetrated
more than one thousand kilometers into Angolan territory up to
the vicinity of Luanda, where an airborne battalion of Cuban
Special Troops and several Cuban crews for Soviet tanks with no
crews, succeeded in delaying their advance. This happened in
November 1975, 13 years before the Cuito Cuanavale Battle. I’ve
already said that we have done nothing for the sake of prestige
or seeking benefit of any kind. It is a fact that Mandela was an
upright man, a profound revolutionary and a radical socialist
who endured with great stoicism 27 years of solitary
confinement. I could not but admire his honesty, modesty and
enormous merit.

Cuba was
strictly fulfilling its internationalist duties by defending key
positions and training thousands of Angolans in the use of
weapons every year. The USSR was providing the weapons. At the
time, however, we disagreed with the idea of the main advisor of
the suppliers of military equipment. Thousands of young and
healthy Angolans were constantly joining the units of their then
incipient army. Their main adviser, however, was not a Zhúkov,
Rokossovski, Malinowvsky or any of the many men that brought so
much glory to Soviet military strategy. His obsessive idea was
to send Angolan brigades carrying the best weapons to the
territory where the tribal government of Savimbi – a mercenary
serving the United States and South Africa– was supposedly
located, which was tantamount to sending the troops fighting in
Stalingrad to the border with the Falangist Spain that had sent
over hundred thousand troops to fight against the USSR. That
year a similar operation was going on. The enemy was advancing
behind several Angolan brigades severely hitting them near the
place they had been sent to, approximately 1,500 kilometers away
from Luanda. They were returning from there, pursued by South
African troops en route to Cuito Cuanavale, a former NATO
military base, located some 100 kilometers away from where a
Cuban Tank Brigade was stationed.

At such a
critical point, the President of Angola requested the support of
Cuban troops. The commander of our troops in the South, General
Leopoldo Cintra Frías, sent us the request as usual. Our firm
reply was that we would provide such support provided that all
Angolan troops and equipment would be under the Cuban command in
South Angola. Everybody understood that our request was a
requirement to turn the former base into the ideal battle field
to hit the racist South African forces.

There was
a positive response from Angola in less than 24 hours. It was
decided that a Cuban Tank Brigade would be immediately sent
there. Several other were in the same line towards the West. The
main obstacle was the mud and humidity due to the rainy season
and the fact that every stretch of land had to be checked for
anti-personnel mines. The military personnel to operate the
tanks and guns without crew were also sent to Cuito.

To the
East, the base was separated from the territory by the large and
fast- flowing Cuito River over which there was a solid bridge
under the frantic attack of the racist army. A radio-controlled
airplane full of explosives was hit, brought down on the bridge
and put out of action. The retreating Angolan tanks still moving
were crossed more to the North. Those that were not in good
conditions were buried with their weapons facing East; a thick
strip of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines turned the line into
a mortal trap on the other side of the river. When the racist
troops renewed their advance and ran into that defensive wall,
the artillery and tanks of the revolutionary brigades came down
on them shooting from their positions in the Cuito area.

The Mig-23
fighters had a special role to play. Flying at a speed of almost
1,000 kilometers per hour and 100 (one hundred) meters altitude
they were able to distinguish if the artillery personnel was
black or white and began firing relentlessly against them. When
the battered and immobilized enemy began to withdraw, the
revolutionary forces began to get ready for the final combats.
Numerous Angolan and Cuban brigades began moving quickly and
keeping proper distance to the West towards the only wide routes
from which South Africans always began their military actions
against Angola. The airport, however, was approximately 300
(three hundred) kilometers from the border with Namibia, which
was totally occupied by the Apartheid army.

While
troops reorganized and rearmed the urgent decision to build a
runway for the Mig-23 was made. Our pilots were using the
aircraft equipment provided by the USSR to Angola, whose pilots
had lacked the time for a proper training. Several aircrafts
were inoperative sometimes due to the action of our own
artillerymen or anti-aircraft weapon operators. South Africans
still occupied part of the main road going from the border of
the Angolan plateau to Namibia. They began shooting from the
bridges over the wide Cunene River –located between Southern
Angola and Northern Namibia– with their 140-millimeter guns
giving their projectiles a range of about 40 kilometers. The
main problem was that the racist South Africans had, according
to our estimates, 10 to 12 nuclear weapons. They had even tested
them in the frozen areas or seas to the South. President Ronald
Reagan had authorized such tests and the device for blasting the
nuclear charge was among the equipment delivered by Israel. Our
response was to organize the troops in combat groups of no more
than 1,000 men, who would have to advance equipped with
anti-aircraft tanks throughout an extensive territory at night.

According
to reliable sources, South African nuclear weapons could not be
transported by Mirage planes; heavy Canberra type bombers were
required instead. In any case, our forces’ air defense had many
different types of missiles that could hit and destroy air
targets located dozens of kilometers away from our troops. In
addition, a dam with 80 million cubic meters of water located in
Angolan territory had been occupied and mined by Cuban and
Angolan fighters. The explosion of that dam would have been
tantamount to the explosion of several nuclear weapons.

Nonetheless, a hydroelectric plant using the strong current of
the Cunene River, before reaching the Namibian border, was being
used by a South African army detachment. When the racist began
shooting with their 140-millimeter guns in this new theater of
operations, the detachment of white soldiers was strongly hit by
the Mig-23 and the survivors fled the place leaving some posters
criticizing their high command. That was the situation when
Cuban and Angolan troops marched over the enemy lines.

I learned
that Katiuska Blanco, the author of some historical accounts,
together with other reporters and press photographers were
there. It was a tense situation but everybody kept cool. It was
then that we got the news that the enemy was willing to
negotiate. We had succeeded in stopping the imperialist and
racist adventure in a continent where, in 30 years time, the
population will exceed that of China and India together. The
role of the Cuban delegation on the occasion of the demise of
our brother and friend Nelson Mandela will be unforgettable.

I
congratulate comrade Raul for his brilliant performance and
particularly for his strength of character and dignity when in a
kind but firm gesture greeted the United States Head of
Government and told him in English: “Mr. President, I’m Castro”.
When my health imposed limits to my physical capacity, I did not
hesitate in expressing my criteria on who, in my view, could
assume the responsibility. A life is a minute in the history of
the peoples and I believe that whoever holds today that
responsibility must have the experience and authority required
to choose among an increasing -almost infinite— number of
alternatives.

Imperialism will always have several cards up its sleeve to
subdue our island even if it has to depopulate it, depriving it
from young men and women to whom they offer the scraps of the
goods and natural resources it ransacks from the world. Let the
spokesmen of the empire now talk about how and why Apartheid
came to life.

We ask readers to play a proactive role and click
the "Report link [at the base of each comment] when
in your opinion, comments cross the line and become
purely offensive, racist or disrespectful to others.

In accordance
with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational
purposes. Information Clearing House has no
affiliation whatsoever with the originator of
this article nor is Information ClearingHouse
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)